The major environmental problems facing the Amazon rain forest are: deforestation by settlers who burn forest to clear the land for crops and pasture; deforestation by loggers who clear cut to sell wood without replacing trees; construction of roads through forest to facilitate logging, mining or transportation with resultant loss of trees and pollution of ponds and rivers; and water pollution from cocaine processing.
These problems threaten the world's largest tropical rain forest that is home to 30% of the world's known plant and animal species and several distinct indigenous cultures.
As the rain forest is destroyed and colonists replace forest with farms and ranches, the native inhabitants are driven off the land and the plant and animal species are often destroyed.
By the early 1990's governments and activists in the area of the Amazon rain forest had accepted the gravity of the environmental problems and were beginning to take steps to slow development and direct it in less harmful ways.
Brazil had eliminated the subsidies that encouraged ranchers to destroy rain forest and the rate of destruction was down.
Experiments with establishing fast growing eucalyptus tree farms to supply wood pulp proved successful.
Many constructive ideas were abroad, but action was less evident.
Concern for the rain forest was counter-balanced by social concern for the poor citizens who were claiming land for themselves by burning rain forest.
